Running out of gas in the semifinals of this year’s Berlin Open, Filipina tennis star Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala saw her astonishing run ended by world number 13 Linda Nosková of Czechia
6-2, 6-4, in their face off early Sunday (Manila time).
Entering the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 event via wildcard, the country’s pride was outplayed by her higher-ranked rival, resurrecting rumors of the jinx that has kept Eala from winning against opponents from the Czech Republic.
Nosková showed grit in the opening set of the rain-delayed match but her Filipina foe came alive in the second to give the Czech ace a scare. Eala won three straight games to pull ahead, 4-3, but again Nosková buoyed by her strong returning, quickly regained control and closed out the match in one hour and nine minutes.
“I just had to adjust my game today, maybe a little bit, because of the rain and maybe the temperature dropped a little bit. The court was maybe a little bit slower, but as the match went on and we hit new balls, I kind of started to feel better and better,” Eala’s nemesis commented after winning.
The result was a repeat of their meeting at Indian Wells in March, where Nosková also defeated Eala. She will now face American Jessica Pegula, who earlier ousted world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
Despite the defeat, the 21-year-old Filipina still had an impressive campaign in Berlin as she enhanced her reputation as a giant-slayer by adding two top-10 players to her list of victims on the WTA Tour.
She opened her campaign in the WTA 500 tournament by beating Queen’s Club champion Donna Vekić of Critia before eliminating world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and world No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine en route to the Final Four.
Though failing to get past Nosková, Eala has earned 195 WTA ranking points and secured €57,395 (₱3.99 million) in prize money for reaching the semi-finals. She now turns her attention to the Bad Homburg Open, which begins on Monday, as she continues her preparations for Wimbledon later this month.